In general, autonomous vehicles rely on myriad of information obtained from sensors to determine operations to be taken next (e.g., turning, accelerating, breaking, etc.). Such sensors can include light detection and ranging sensors (LiDARs), cameras, and radars, to name some examples. Often, these sensors are mounted exteriorly to an autonomous vehicle. Such a configuration can be undesirable because it exposes the sensors to harsh environmental conditions (e.g., temperature swing, radiation, oxidation, etc.), and thereby may prematurely shorten a sensor's lifetime. Furthermore, mounting the sensors exteriorly to the autonomous vehicle can subject the sensors to an increased risk of impact or damage from road debris. To alleviate these and other problems, a sensor enclosure may be utilized such that sensors can be encased in the sensor enclosure. The sensor enclosure can offer additional protection against environmental elements and road debris while still allowing the encased sensors to function or operate. However, encasing sensors in a sensor enclosure can create other challenges. For example, while driving in rain or snow, an outer surface (e.g., a cover) of the sensor enclosure may collect moisture (e.g., rainwater, snow, etc.). The moisture can accumulate on the outer surface and may interfere with operations of sensors.
Under traditional approaches, a system comprising one or more moving wipers can be utilized to remove the moisture accumulated on the outer surface of the sensor enclosure. However, under such approaches, the wipers may interfere with operation of the sensors. For example, the wipers may be present in field of views of cameras while the cameras are actively capturing image data. As such, alternative solutions are needed so the wipers do not interfere with the sensors.